The 28-year-old has been shot, addicted to drugs and also served
time in prison. He survived all of those ordeals, though, and is
now 2-0 in the UFC. Ahead of his Dec. 8 bout against Abel
Trujillo at
UFC on Fox 5, Means joined the Sherdog Radio
Network’s “Rewind” show and discussed his past with host Jack
Encarnacao.

On getting shot: “I went out partying one night with some
buddies, got drunk and winded up at a local business here. One
thing led to another, walked outside a little while later and a guy
winded up shooting six of us.

On what started the incident: “In all honesty, we supposedly
cut in line and the guys had recognized me from a local fight
organization. ... They didn’t want to fight then. We shook hands
and left it alone. He winded up calling his cousin up. About an
hour later, we walked outside and the dude just started shooting at
us, no questions said, no nothing. He just started firing into a
bunch of us.”

On where he was hit: “My femoral artery in my left thigh. I
have about an eight- or nine-inch scar on my left thigh from where
they had to cut me open, go in and tie my femoral artery. They said
I was bleeding to death. I had a good buddy named Brian Shaw
who wrapped a belt around my leg, and supposedly that saved my
life. I was bleeding pretty good, so thanks to Brian Shaw
for saving me that night. I thought I was going to die.”

On fighting two weeks later: “I had gauze all shoved in my
wound. We didn’t really have commissions then. Mixed martial arts
was pretty new, so I tried to tough it out and it did not work out
for me. ... I didn’t take the injury very well because I had never
been injured like that. I came back a couple of weeks later. I
tried to fight Spencer
Fisher and I tried to fight Luke
Caudillo just a couple of weeks after being shot and I ripped
stitches in my leg and had to get taken to the hospital and have
surgery again. ... From that point on, I really started hitting the
party scene and life pretty hard. It got me sent to prison after
that.”

On when his problems with drugs started: “Right after I got
shot in 2004. I had prescriptions for morphine and Vicodin, and
from there once the prescriptions ran out, it went into cocaine and
meth.”

On meth: “I didn’t know anything about it. I just snorted a
line, started smoking it and I knew it kept me high and made me
feel real good. I thought I was Superman for a while until I
started looking back and I’m two years in and I’m like, whoa, wait
a minute. Everything just feels like a big blur.”

On hitting rock bottom: “I wasn’t taking care of myself. I
wasn’t taking baths and I wasn’t eating. All I could think about
was getting high or when I could get my next fix. It doesn’t get
lower than that.”

On getting sent to prison on drug-related charges: “I got
out on probation, went back to see the judge again, drug-related
again. Judge Jones was a family friend of ours. I kept lying to
him, and he’s not a dumb guy. He looked right through me. I didn’t
need to get a felony. I wanted to just have a misdemeanor, but [I
had] enough time on those misdemeanors to send me to New Mexico
state prison. I got to go get my prison number, but I don’t have
any felonies, so that’s a good thing, I guess.”

On how getting shot and going to prison helped turn his life
around: “I was getting pretty cocky. I was building a name for
myself here on the local circuit in mixed martial arts. People had
already been putting me on a pedestal, so I wasn’t having to live
up to that fighter because I was already that fighter. People were
already making me this big image here. I wasn’t having to put the
training in. I wasn’t going into the gym to filter my anger. I was
getting into street fights. I think the shooting and the drug
addiction was a blessing in disguise because from there, I got sent
to the department of corrections. There, I was able to correct
myself. I was able to go to school in there. I was able to program
and work. I went to prison, but in a lot of ways, it saved my life.
I’d be deeper in drugs right now or I’d be dead. Without being shot
and going through that route, I don’t think I’d be here right
now.”

On his upcoming fight against Trujillo: “If I lose this
fight, then I’ll get set back. That’s dangerous in my mind. There’s
no time for setbacks. I’ve accepted losses, and unfortunately
they’re not nearly as fun as winning, but it’s very important to
get that bonus and pay my bills. That’s what I have to provide at
the moment. Thank goodness for the UFC and for mixed martial arts
because that’s where I get to vent that anger into and that’s where
I look for me to survive right now is that extra money on my
plate.”

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